(no subject)

[lollardfish]

Ok sci-fi fans, what are your favorite science-fiction utopias? I'm thinking about teaching a class on utopias next year, and want to use some reasonably contemporary fiction (as well as Plato, More, Bellamy, Lost Horizon, SimCity, and other stuff).

Comments

it's a wonderful world

[rvrjoe775.livejournal.com]

You already mentioned Bellamy, one of my personal favorites. I also quite enjoyed Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron. For some film levity, you might consider Brazil by Terry Gilliam.

Don't overlook Orwell, natch.

Re: it's a wonderful world

[zinzinzinnia.livejournal.com]

"Harrison Bergeron" pairs nicely with Brave New World -- pre-determination of social roles. Also, F451 (which most people mistake as simply an indictment against censorship, but is really about the difference between a thinking society and an entertainment-dulled one) pairs nicely with an examination of Reality TV and similar pseudo-real entertainment experiences. But I think that strays a bit from the focus of immigration and exclusion as reflected in utopic/dystopic literature. They're more about control and engineering of the existing social structures. 1984 could be good for the whole immigration/exclusion thing because of the expliotation of xenophobia to control the population and distract from internal problems.

Re: it's a wonderful world

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

My main objection to Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley is that there are a million things to read, and I want to avoid things that some might have read in highschool if at all possible.

Re: it's a wonderful world

[zinzinzinnia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, very good point. I'd personally read all of them by the end of Grade 9, and usually one or more of those are on some HS curriculum somewhere, from what I've been able to judge.

Re: it's a wonderful world

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Yup, I think Grade 9 for me too.